Hola from Nicaragua!
Well it’s month 10 on the race and the finish line is on the horizon! Only 39 days left until I’m back home. Home… what a beautiful word. Over the past 10 months I’ve had to make a lot of different places home.
In China, we bought a little fake Christmas tree to put in our smoky little hotel room. In Swaziland, we caught a live turkey and cooked it to celebrate Thanksgiving with our African friends. This month I’ve made a place for all my things in my tent, to make it feel a little bit more like “my own space”. I even have a chair to put outside my tent where I can do my daily devotions as I look out to the mountains.
This sense of “home” that we try to create on the race helps us feel more comfortable, safe, & settled. Even sitting down for dinner with our team (whether at a table or on the floor) helps bring a sense of home or belonging. But at the end of every month we know what’s coming…a new place, new sleeping arrangements, new ministry contacts, and potentially even new teammates. And every month we do our best to make that place “home”.
But the thing is, is that even after the race has finished and I’m back home with my family I still won’t be home. God tells us that this place is NOT our home. As believers we are aliens, sojourners, and exiles. Because we are heirs of Christ, our home is with our Father, in heaven. So how do we live as aliens while keeping the identity of our homeland?
In 1 Peter 4:7 it tells us to:
“… Be of sound judgment and sober spirit on to prayers.”
Why would he say to be sober-minded in our prayers if there weren’t forces in this world that are putting us out of our mind? Forces that were causing us to become “drunk”, inebriating us, causing us to forget why we are here and who we are living for.
“This world is passing away and its desires but the one who does the will of God abides forever”
The reality of this world is that it is fleeting and Satan, who is “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31) is seeking to kill and destroy you.
We mustn’t let ourselves be consumed with the pleasures or the worries of this world. That is when our focus goes from being on Jesus to being on the world.
So what are some practical ways we can keep our identity in a world that’s warring against our soul? How can we stay spiritually sober in a world that is constantly trying to inebriate us?
Re-directing your focus before you pray: Before you jump into prayer with all your worries, concerns or desires, take time to re-direct your mind on TRUTH – scriptural, biblical TRUTH. That way you can pray prayers of faith and not fear or pray for things that the holy spirit desires for your life and not what your flesh desires.
Living in community: is another way we can protect ourselves from Satan’s schemes. Usually, our focus is drawn away from the Lord little by little. Skip a prayer here, miss a bible study there, look a little bit here, do a little bit of that etc. It is important to have relationships with believers who will notice these things and help us stay accountable.
And so as this time on the race is coming to an end and my mind is continually thinking about and longing to be home, I have to remind myself to set my mind on things above.
The Lord would not tell us to DO SOMETHING, if there was nothing we could do. And so I encourage you …
“preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
1 Peter 1:13
